Hey Everyone,
Starting this build thread mainly for a record of our builds because I tend to forget how much work, jobs are a few years after they're done. My wife's first vehicle was a '96 that she loved and I sadly got rear ended in my beloved '92. So after some years we decided to get back in the Cherokee game. I work out of town and was going to fly down to Arizona from Calgary, Canada to pick up a clean XJ but my awesome wife found a clean '91 Sport that she had went and bought and had sitting in the garage for me when I got home. A couple months later she got the itch and we started looking for one for her however this time she had hoped to find a Comanche. They're few and far between in Canada so we got lucky when we found an '89 that was in the process of being swapped from a 4 cyl manual to a 4.0 auto. The guy had too many projects going on so we got it for a great deal. I'm going to start the two builds with the '91 Xj and then start on the '89 MJ. The plans are as follows:

1991, 5 speed XJ (His):
Full undercarriage refresh:
Iron Rock Offroad 3" Rock-Link long arm kit
Iron Rock full frame stiffeners
ALL wear parts replacement, u-joints, seals, brakes, hoses, clutch, etc
Sandblast prime and paint entire underside
2015 Wrangler Sahara X wheels via 1.25 adapters
Swap in 3.55 axles out of a 97
Liberty rear disc swap
Dual diaphragm booster
New full exhaust
Repair the floor and delete the drains
Monstaliner the floor
160 amp Durango alt upgradeHeated front seatsAdd Bluetooth to the factory head unit and replace speakers
Paint it bikini pearl
More as my wallet allows

1989 MJ (Her's):
LS1 swap
6"ish Long Arm Kit
33"-35" tires
Swap back to a manual
'97 front
More as her imagination sees fit

 

Started stripping down the XJ. Removed exhaust, trans, lines fuel tank etc, so I can strip the old asphalt undercoating off and refinish it and install the frame stiffeners. Such a pain in the *** to remove but it definitely did it's job over the years. About a third of the way done.



Before

After! courtesy of my fantastic lady. Also have some 3.55 geared axles out of a 97, Just waiting to be sandblasted and resealed.

 

Good start and a good solid plan.

 

Thanks XJwonders!

Picked up an external slave AX-15 today out of a 94 for the wife's MJ.

 

Thinking about swapping out the 231 from my 91 for a 242 out of an 89 XJ that is currently swapped into the MJ. It would be nice to have the full time 4WD when it gets icy up here and I'm too lazy to man the handle all the time. Haven't separated the 91 trans and TC but according to the searching I've done it should be a 21 spline and the 89 242 should be as well. Not 100% sure if the input shaft length will be right tho. If anyone reading this knows, let me know.

Also that 242 in the MJ won't work with the 94 AX-15 I got for it last week so I'm pretty sure I'll have to get one from a 92-95 XJ.

 

Iron rock offroad 3" rock link and full stiffeners showed up today. Still so much prep for refinishing the bottom left to do tho. And a pic of my always eager helpers

 

Dang thats a clean underside!

 

Been plugging away at the asphalt undercoating. Almost there but man this stuff is hard to get off in the tight areas. Gonna pick up a cheap sandblaster and see if it'll work better for the tight corners. Fought to get the front bolts out of the leaf springs. It ended up having to cut them off.

Had to weld on a nut on one side and work it free

Getting there


Going to reinstall the axle so it's resting on its wheels before I start welding on the stiffeners. Debating whether to mix epoxy primer and spray before they go on or just spray balm where they go and their back side then epoxy primer it all once they're on there?

 

So I ended up pulling the engine as it'll be easier to paint the bottom with it out, plus I figured it could use a good bath, some paint and then I could clean up the engine bay a bit. Also picked up a cheap sandblaster to get the tough to clean areas of the bottom. Soon it'll be time to take the axles and misc parts to the local do it yourself sandblasting place.



Not going to completely tear it down but it will get new freeze plugs, block heater, VC and oil pan gaskets, rear main seal etc.


Also welded these on the old leafs so I could throw the axle back under it to push it outside and sandblast the tough to reach areas

 

Got some work done today. This Jeep was towed behind a RV for most of its life and today it came in super handy. Hooked it up and pulled it to the self sandblasting place. Got the hard to reach corners and gave the rest a dusting seeing I was there. Wish I had to know earlier that they had a ramp, would of saved me a bunch of time running a wire wheel on a 5 inch grinder.

Made it about 10 feet out of the alley before I had to go back a toss the shocks back on. Got some wicked wheel hop immediately haha




Going to prime and paint the places that the frame stiffeners cover before they get welded on then prime and paint the whole thing. Don't want any bare metal or just primer behind them to rust up.


Also started sanding down the engine bay for a repaint. Should really look clean in there when it's done. Will likely spray it with a gun as I couldn't find any color matched spray paint. Plus it would be a lot of area to cover with cans.

 

Wow that looks amazing

 

Been working on installing the IRO frame stiffeners. A lot of work so I hope they add a bunch of durability. Fit them to the frame then took the off and sprayed them with some cold galvanizing compound and then some gloss black. Taped off where they're going to be welded.



Eventually it'll get properly sprayed with zinc rich epoxy primer and top coat but this will do for in between the frame and the stiffeners.


Not going to fully weld the stiffeners as I don't believe it's necessary and will trap in moisture. Going to stitch weld it, making sure to leave places at the bottom for moisture to escape.

Had to do some cutting for the mid stiffener to fit tight. There were a couple speed nut locations on the outside that had to be cut out and this v-shaped cut shown here. Overall not bad fit but I do wish I had cut back the outer top rolled over edge as it comes out far enough to require welding to the floor pan which is paper thin. Going to weld it where the metal is thicker and then after priming seam seal the top.


Also picked up the fenders, header and other front end parts off this 2000 for a front end swap onto the wife's Comanche.

 

Painted the back side of the front stiffeners

 

 

When I got it there was a bunch of rust come out of the cooling system. I flushed it about 15 times but it still ran a touch hot.

Block looked better than the head

Pressure washing before disassembly

Figured since I had it out I'd better do a head gasket. Good thing as the fire ring between #1&2 was blown out and about half of the coolant passages from block to head were plugged. Definitely making it run hotter than it should.

Inside the engine looked fair. Some cross hatch left and nothing of worry. Not going to fully rebuild as I'm looking into a LS swap down the road but will freshen it up with a new timing chain, and a good cleaning. Should also say that I'm not doing the engine work, my lovely wife took that one on as her project.

So much damn welding. About 70% done, then it'll be a **** load of grinding to make it all look pretty. Definitely feels way stiffer tho. Also I didn't get a pic of it but I don't like the top edge of the IRO center stiffener as it would need to be welded to super thin floor pans. Going to cut it back and finish the top weld at the "frame"